After a stressful day, a few minutes of yoga can mean the difference between anxiety and rest. To clarify, I’m talking about yoga only as a physical activity. If you don’t buy into the philosophical, religious, or meditative aspects, that’s fine. You can still enjoy the benefits of stress release without any of those strings attached.

The great thing about yoga is its flexibility (no pun intended). Beginners and veterans alike can modify their routines to best suit their own physique. If you’re in a rush, you can squeeze in a 5-minute routine; if you have an open hour, you can take it slow and enjoy it on a deeper level. Yoga is for everyone.

Her personal channel, which is regularly but infrequently updated, consists of homemade yoga routines that range anywhere from 5- to 15-minutes long. For more of her videos, you can check out the Livestrong Woman channel, which includes a whole bunch of videos that focus on fitness for women.

Tara does not associate with any particular style or school of yoga, instead choosing to focus purely on the physical aspects and making it more accessible to people who might normally be repelled by the idea.

Kino MacGregor maintains an active YouTube channel that’s dedicated to teaching yoga to beginners. In particular, she teaches Ashtanga Yoga, which can be thought of as a modernized form of classical Indian yoga. It places heavy emphasis on breathing patterns and sequences of holding positions.

To a yoga newbie, that probably sounds a bit intimidating. Rest assured, however, because Kino breaks it all down into individual videos that are easy to follow in her “Yoga For Beginners” playlist. As you progress, you can move onto the “Primary Series”, “Intermediate Series”, and more.

There’s even a “Yoga For Children” playlist if you want to get the kids involved.

Adriene Mishler recently hit the 2-year birthday mark for her yoga-centric YouTube channel. She teaches a Kundalini-inspired style of yoga that emphasizes self-awareness, inner potential, and awakening one’s spiritual energy. While this kind of thinking sits at the foundation of her routines, none of it is ever made explicit or mandatory.

What’s great about this channel is its commitment to producing full workouts and releasing them for free on a regular basis. While other channels tend to go with routines in the 5- to 15-minute range, Adriene’s routines range anywhere from 20- to 60-minutes.

There’s a lot of value to be found in her channel, especially if you browse her video archives.

Unlike the previous channels, Ekhart Yoga is home to a variety of yoga instructors who each have their own style to teach, but all of them are geared towards beginners with a few advanced videos here and there.

Learn everything from starting poses and easy stretches to specific exercises that target different body areas. The playlist library contains a wealth of series that will expand your yoga knowledge in no time. There are some niche playlists too, such as “Restorative Yoga”, “Yoga For Pregnant Women”, and “Yoga For Seniors”.

This last channel, Yoga Journal, also known as YJ Mag, is no longer actively updated but still incredibly useful for those who want to learn yoga.

Browse through the video history to find dozens of videos that teach individual yoga poses that you can incorporate into your own routines if you so wish. The later videos begin to focus more on full 20- to 30-minute routines that you can follow.

Learning Yoga By Yourself

Learning yoga on your own from online videos has its own pros and cons. It is self-directed and online videos may not teach you much about proper alignment and breathing techniques. On the plus, online videos are free and a great way to begin learning something new before you join a community class or learn from a professional instructor. The variety of exercises available through these yoga YouTube channels should save you from boring routines.

With all five channels combined, it’ll be a long while before you run out of YouTube yoga content to consume. Just give it a few weeks and you’ll be amazed at how much better you feel, both physically and mentally. You won’t have to be bogged down by stress anymore.